Resource Type: Activities

Experiments in Crystal Opticspart of ActivitiesHans Dieter Zimmermann The purpose of the experiments below is to impart an intuitive understanding of the interaction between light and crystals and, thus, of optical crystallography. This will help to demystify what is seen in the ...

Minerals and Lightpart of ActivitiesEdward F. Stoddard Optical Mineralogy and thin sections just blew me away when I first was exposed to them. (Of course that was the psychedelic 60's!) Because of my experience, I've always thought that we might attract a ...

Mineral Separation and Provenance Lab Exercisepart of ActivitiesMary Roden-Tice, SUNY College at Plattsburgh Students will examine mineral separates from sand samples collected from a number of rivers each of which drains a slightly different geologic terrane. Differences in mineralogic composition and mineral abundance ...

Phase Diagrams in Vivopart of ActivitiesErich U. Peterson This activity uses three experiments (videos of experiments may be viewed online) for students to construct a phase diagram. The purpose of this laboratory as designed is to gain familiarity with simple phase ...

Asbestos: Mineralogy, Health Hazards, and Public Policypart of ActivitiesHelen Lang, West Virginia University In this laboratory exercise students will have an opportunity to examine the crystal structures, optical properties and health hazards of the common asbestos minerals. The laboratory will reinforce optical ...

Wondering, Wandering, and Winnowing: the WWW and Mineralogypart of ActivitiesPhilip Brown, UW-Madison The purpose of this laboratory exercise is to introduce the student to Earth Science resources on the World Wide Web (WWW) and in particular provide access to material which can be useful throughout a typical ...

Introduction to the SEM/EDS or "Every Compositon Tells a Story"part of ActivitiesJohn T Cheney and Peter D. Crowley This lab is designed as an introduction to the investigation of minerals with the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and the X-ray analyzer (Energy Dispersive Spectrometer - EDS). We will explore the relationships ...

Research Project for Mineralogypart of ActivitiesWendy Panero, Ohio State University-Main Campus The assignment allows for open ended exploration of a topic of interest in geosciences in which one or more mineral's chemistry and/or crystal structure is significant to understanding that geoscience problem. ...

Laboratory Exercises and Demonstrations with the Spindle Stagepart of ActivitiesMickey Gunter, University of Idaho The goal of this lab session is to introduce you to the spindle stage and its possible uses in an undergraduate mineralogy lab. A spindle stage is a one-axis rotation device that mounts on a polarizing microscope ...

Color in Mineralspart of ActivitiesDarby Dyar Why do minerals have color? When is that color diagnostic, and when is it likely to fool you? Why is color important, and what can it tell us about the chemistry of minerals? This exercise will try to answer some ...

Growing Crystals on a Microscope Stagepart of ActivitiesDexter Perkins, University of North Dakota-Main Campus; Many compounds crystallize rapidly from evaporating solutions, and many can be crystallized from melts. Because of this, it is possible to do simple crystallization experiments and to watch crystals grow over short ...

Mineral Properties Sheetspart of ActivitiesDave Hirsch, Western Washington University A set of 69 mineral sheets to be used as part of a term-length set of labs. Each sheet has spaces to write physical and optical proerties for each mineral, and a crystal form diagram scannned from Nesse and/or ...

Indicatrix Moviespart of ActivitiesDave Hirsch, Western Washington University These movies show the indicatrix, a mineral, the principal indices of refraction, and the interference color predicted, all changing as the cut through the mineral varies. It is meant to be a lecture aid, or can be ...

Mineral Physics Activity Setspart of ActivitiesMichael Brown These activities are derived from a 500-level mineral physics course at the University of Washington. They include topics such as Earth models, lattices, x-rays, thermodynamics, elasticity, and lattice vibrations. ...

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